The Book Cooks
Excerpts from
Secret Carnival Workers
by
Paul Haines
Edited by Stuart Broomer
(H. Pal Productions; Toronto/Distributed by Coach House Books, Toronto)
Perhaps best known as the librettist for Carla Bley’s Escalator Over The Hill, Paul Haines (1932-2003) wrote poetry, fiction, and an arguably unique genre of prose that is tagged as journalism or criticism largely because of its venues – album sleeves and booklets and music journals. As much as his poetry, this body of work, a mix of inside-out polemics and oblique storytelling, is a testament to Haines’ singular ear and voice. These three examples were recommended by Stuart Broomer: “To You,” the sleeve note for The Jazz Composers Orchestra’s 1965 LP, Communication (Fontana); “Jubilee,” first published in the Canadian journal, Musicworks (issue 34; Spring 1986); and “Fear of Metal Sheds: and never hear from anyone again,” commissioned by Evan Parker for his 1989 limited edition box set of Incus solo saxophone LPs, Collected Solos.
Photos Courtesy of H. Pal Productions©2007